Like most fans, Crew president and
general manager Mark McCullers wants to see the team score more goals this season. How he hopes to
see them scored, however, shows a return to an old approach.

“You look at 2008 and 2009, and goals came from a lot of different areas,” he said as the team
began training on Thursday. “You look at 2011, and they really came from Andres (Mendoza) and
Emilio (Renteria).

“We need production from the wings; we need production from the center part of the field. We
need to be dangerous from really all the front five positions. I think we have the guys that can
produce from every position on the field.”

Mendoza led the Crew and finished fourth in Major League Soccer with 13 goals, but he was not
retained as the team’s designated player. Renteria (eight goals) returns, but he is expected to
have more help once a handful of offseason acquisitions reach town. The Crew signed international
players Milovan Mirosevic and Olman Vargas, both of whom could factor into the attack.

As a midfielder, Mirosevic has scored 46 goals in the past three seasons while playing in Chile’s
First Division. Vargas scored 17 goals during the past two seasons as a forward in the Costa Rican
First Division.

In addition, the Crew signed North Carolina forward Ben Speas to a homegrown contract, drafted
five other forwards or midfielders and remains in the market for a new designated player, one who
they hope can find the net on a regular basis.

“Obviously we all wanted more goals, but if you remember last year, there weren’t too many
players we can say that were scorers,” coach Robert Warzycha said. “Bringing in Vargas and
Mirosevic and having Renteria and bringing these other guys to the team, that’s what’s going to
give us more goals.”

Mendoza and Renteria combined for 48.8 percent of the Crew’s goals last season. It was the
highest percentage for any two players on a playoff team. Eventual MLS Cup champion Los Angeles had
19 of its 48 goals (39.6 percent) from its top two scorers, and runner-up Houston had 10 of its 45
goals come from its top two (22.2 percent).

In the Crew’s MLS Cup championship season in 2008, leading scorers Alejandro Moreno (nine) and
Guillermo Barros Schelotto (seven) combined for 32.7 percent of the team’s goals. One year later,
that increased to 43.9 percent as the team was bounced in the first round of the playoffs despite
again winning the Supporters’ Shield for best regular-season record.

“I don’t know if I can speak for the other guys, but myself, this is why I play the game: to
score goals,” said forward Tommy Heinemann, who finished fourth on the team with three goals last
season. “Obviously I would have liked to do more of that last year. I’ve worked on it in the
offseason and set goals in the preseason to find ways to capitalize on opportunities more.”

Veteran midfielder Eddie Gaven, who finished third on the team with five goals last season
despite missing eight games because of injury, hopes the reinforcements will help.

“I think last year we definitely showed signs of (being balanced), which is good, but it’s doing
it game in and game out,” he said. “I haven’t seen those new guys yet. Hopefully they’re going to
come in and help the team out and help us put some more balls in the net.”

Warzycha said he will not change much schematically in an effort to generate more chances for a
wider range of players.

“You have what you have,” he said. “If you have goal scorers, they’re going to score goals.”

ajardy@dispatch.com

Top-heavy scoring

Two players — Andres Mendoza and Emilio Renteria — combined for nearly half of the Crew’s 43
goals last season.

A look at the individual totals:

21 GOALS 48.8 PERCENT

F Andres Mendoza 13

F Emilio Renteria 8

OTHER GOAL-SCORERS

M Eddie Gaven 5

F Tommy Heinemann 3

M-F Robbie Rogers 2

M Dilly Duka 2

M Josh Gardner 2

F Jeff Cunningham 2

M Emmanuel Ekpo 1

F Bernardo Anor 1

D Rich Balchan 1

D Julius James 1

Own goals* 2

*-Two own goals by opponents were credited to the Crew, giving it a total of 43 for 2011.